I just updated our onsite installation of ConnectWise Control from 6.3->6.4 without a hitch. Server upgrade went easy.

The question I have relates to the client install. We have about 11k access sessions running, and the re-install feature for updating the clients seems pretty slow and cumbersome, assuming I am doing it right.

Is selecting all machines at the top level the most efficient way to upgrade?

Does the queue for upgrade get cleared? It seems I have to keep kicking machines every few hours/days

Does it really upgrade 1 machine at a time, take between 1 - 5 seconds each?

Would the AutoReinstallOldVersionClient feature be worth exploring? Upsides/Downsides?

Can I use our patch management system to deploy the update? I ask because it would only take me an hour to deploy and update all clients if I knew the command line parameters to do so, and wouldn't require me to seemingly babysit the upgrade.

Let me know if I'm on track or if I should approach this another way. The product has been absolutely wonderful for our staff and we're quite pleased overall.

Is selecting all machines at the top level the most efficient way to upgrade?

Potentially but you have highlighted a few other options that might be easier.

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Would the AutoReinstallOldVersionClient feature be worth exploring? Upsides/Downsides?

I would say this is your best option. The only real downside is that if you upgrade the server to a new version and then realize that you don't like it and want to revert there is no simple/clear path to do this with clients that have already been upgraded. We cannot guarantee that clients running a version newer than that of the server can communicate. At 11k clients I'm guessing you guys might have a testing environment for new versions to ensure you're happy with them before installing it to production so you guys may not run into this problem (but I don't want to assume).

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Does it really upgrade 1 machine at a time, take between 1 - 5 seconds each?

Originally it didn't stagger the Reinstall action and if you selected 11k clients and initiated a Reinstall it would bog the server down pushing each one out. To combat this we implemented an approximately 5 second delay between Reinstall. Meaning in theory it could take up to 55,000 seconds to fully Reinstall all clients (assuming 100% are connected).

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Does the queue for upgrade get cleared? It seems I have to keep kicking machines every few hours/days

I'm not sure what you're asking here, do you have to re-initiate the Reinstall against certain clients? Can you expand a bit more?

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Can I use our patch management system to deploy the update? I ask because it would only take me an hour to deploy and update all clients if I knew the command line parameters to do so, and wouldn't require me to seemingly babysit the upgrade.

Depending upon what patch management system you use this actually seems like a solid option. You shouldn't need any command line parameters to reinstall the client. Simply go to the Host page, Build a new Access client installer, and install the exe on the remote machine. Clients are identified to the server via the SessionID which is stored in the registry. If the client is already installed, running a new exe again won't modify this key and thus the session will callback as the same machine.

Completely unrelated question but what are the hardware specs for the server on which ScreenConnect is running?

I have several machines that simply will not upgrade (due to licensing key changes from when they were installed to now). if i enable autoreinstalloldversionclient it beats their internet to death and they never get upgraded. it's better, in my mind, to cordon those off with a Note and create a rule that groups old installs so you can install them when they're online. you can queue up all of them simultaneously, but each will download and install in their own time - some are a lot slower than others (depends on the client connection speed).

use this filter rule: ((GuestClientVersion <> $SERVERVERSION) AND (Notes LIKE '%no-upgrade%'))

Originally it didn't stagger the Reinstall action and if you selected 11k clients and initiated a Reinstall it would bog the server down pushing each one out.

Makes sense. :)

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I'm not sure what you're asking here, do you have to re-initiate the Reinstall against certain clients? Can you expand a bit more?

I think I do is the best answer I can give. I think this is related to the feedback I get in our patching system, (BigFix), verse no way to keep real track of the progress of the upgrade except via Group filters. The best I can say is that there are (at this time) 600+ active connected devices (out of 3,500 total still at 6.3) that are currently not upgrading for some reason. I can't tell if it's an install failure or some other issue in this case.

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Depending upon what patch management system you use this actually seems like a solid option. You shouldn't need any command line parameters to reinstall the client. Simply go to the Host page, Build a new Access client installer, and install the exe on the remote machine

This will probably be my solution for the future, though I do usually push with the silent commands, "msiexec /I connectwise[...].msi /qn"

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Completely unrelated question but what are the hardware specs for the server on which ScreenConnect is running?

It's running on a VM in our core, AMD Opteron 6386SE, 8GB RAM, some flavor of fast SSD feeding the OS and program drive. I've had zero performance issues with the machine so far, and only spike the CPU on listing "All Machines", which no one ever sees except for the admins.

Thanks for the commandline details. Is there a reason I wouldn't just push the configured MSI from the CWC build feature, as opposed to passing the various variables per your information. I can see scenarios where having that level of command control would be useful, though I'm not sure I need it at this point.

Is there a reason I wouldn't just push the configured MSI from the CWC build feature, as opposed to passing the various variables per your information.

Server load, bandwidth, and ease of upgrades. If you have 11k devices you're pushing upgrades to, you might find that pushing them out with a static MSI you pre-build yourself (which collects it's installation information from the local machine state during installation) saves your server a ton of resources. You can also set this up as a scheduled event on supported devices so they poll the server or a network cached version (say, with robocopy) and install the upgrade from that local cache instead when necessary.

You can also set this up as a scheduled event on supported devices so they poll the server or a network cached version (say, with robocopy) and install the upgrade from that local cache instead when necessary.

Thankfully we use IBM BigFix, which is able to relay and install with minimal work to all devices, and can finish the upgrade in 15/20 minutes. Too many Domains to make file server upgrades reliable or easy. :)

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